Welcome to the weekend POU! Vonetta Flowers (born Vonetta Jeffery on October 29, 1973 in Helena, Alabama) is an American bobsledder and athlete. Flowers was a star sprinter and long jumper at the University of Alabama-Birmingham and originally aspired to make the U.S. Summer Olympic Team. After several failed attempts, Flowers turned to bobsledding, and found success as a … [Read more...] about Saturday Open Thread: African Americans In Winter Sports
Winter Sports
Friday Open Thread: African Americans In Winter Sports
TGIF POU! Today's feature is bobsledder Aja Evans. It was no surprise all the initial stories about the selection of the U.S. women's bobsled team for this season focused on Lolo Jones, even if the high-profile Olympic hurdler had been distinctly discreet while starting her attempt to make the 2014 Winter Games as a sled pusher. There was no attention paid to the woman … [Read more...] about Friday Open Thread: African Americans In Winter Sports
Thursday Open Thread: African Americans In Winter Sports
Good Morning POU! Today we feature Bonnie St. John! Bonnie St. John (born November 7, 1964) is the first African-American to win medals in Winter Paralympic competition as a ski racer. In the 1984 Winter Paralympics in Innsbruck, Austria, St. John won a bronze medal in the slalom, a bronze medal in the giant slalom, and was awarded a silver medal for overall performance … [Read more...] about Thursday Open Thread: African Americans In Winter Sports
Wednesday Open Thread: African Americans In Winter Sports
Happy Hump Day POU! Today we feature Gold Medalist Speed Skater Shani Davis. Davis was born in Chicago, Illinois. His father, Reginald Shuck, picked his son's name (Shani) out of a Swahili dictionary. The English translation is a mixture of "light" and "weight". Davis learned to roller skate at the age of 2. By the time he was 3, he could skate so quickly that he had to be … [Read more...] about Wednesday Open Thread: African Americans In Winter Sports
Tuesday Open Thread: African Americans in Winter Sports
Good Morning POU! Today, meet the inspirational phenomenal skier Ralph Green. (From 2006) TURIN, Italy, Feb. 27 — A month after Ralph Green was gunned down on a Brooklyn street corner in 1992, his mother mustered the strength to look ahead. Until he was shot, Green had escaped the violence that plagued his Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. He was 15 and a promising high … [Read more...] about Tuesday Open Thread: African Americans in Winter Sports